1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plate glass repair apparatus and a method of performing such plate glass repair.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A method of repairing a pane of plate glass by drilling or cutting out a circular portion surrounding a crack in the pane and then gluing in a disc that has been cut from another piece of glass is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,913, issued Oct. 19, 1976 to Walz.
Prior devices have been advanced as well for repairing layers that had surface blemishes or cracks by putting in plugs to replace the area of layers surrounding the blemish. Such a method is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,143,744 to Sohn, and a similar repair method for repairing a glass layer in a vessel is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,234, issued to O. J. Britton. The damaged area is cut out and plugs are inserted in the cut outs in both of these patents. The plugs are held in place with suitable adhesive.
Cutters which will cut out discs of glass are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,073,094, also issued to Walz, and Pat. No. 4,208,229, issued to D. S. Giardini. These are exemplary of prior machines used for cutting circular openings in glass and require mounting members on both sides of the glass. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,094, a pilot hole is needed for securing the members together on the opposite sides of the painted glass to be cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,060 shows an ultrasonic machining method for drilling material out in a type of a plug; U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,084 shows a glass drilling machine that utilizes a coolant flow in a particular manner to aid in the cutting, as well as illustrating adjustable feed rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,256 is a cutter that has liquid cooling on the outside of the drill that is cutting, and a vacuum to reduce the likelihood of the breakage of the glass as the cut is made through the pane and to minimize the chipping during the break through of the cutter through the pane of glass.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,140,901 also shows a cutting device for cutting glass which is held on the pane of glass with suction cups while a cutting blade drills through the glass.